Femme bear, also known as bear femme, is a term used by some non-binary people to describe their relationship with gender or gender expression, and sometimes one's sexual orientation as well. It is a combination of the terms femme and bear. This can sometimes be used as an orientation and/or gender identity on its own.
Examples of femme bear experiences may include:
- Having a non-normative gender expression or being gender non-conforming. One may present androgynously and have connections to both femininity and masculinity or be lingender. One may want to be perceived as both a masculine man and a feminine woman (but not a feminine man or masculine woman). They may present both ways simultaneously or be fluid between presentations. They may also be pronoun non-conforming.
- Having a connection to both womanhood and manhood, either through being liaspec, multigender, genderfluid, cusper, both girlprox and boyprox, or through some other way.
- Relating to or identifying with both achillean/vincian and sapphic communities, labels, or culture. This could be because one is multisexual, omnigay, gai, velaurian, or other identities.
- Being a femme person who is heavy-set and hairy and identifies with bear culture.[1]
- Being a feminine ursula or urse.
Not all femme bears experience their identities in the same way. The traits listed above are only examples, and they do not apply to every femme bear.
The counterpart to femme bear is butch twink.
Flag
The femme bear flag was created by an anonymous wiki user on March 28, 2021. The top three stripes represent connection to femme culture. The white stripe represents nonbinary identity. The bottom three strips represent connection to bear culture. The heart paw represents a combination of femme and bear culture.